Excavating apparatus



Nov. 7, 1944. w. RUDDOCK- 2,362,407

' EXCAVATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 24, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I INVENTOR.

W744 1AM .Euaoocz',

ATTORNEY.

Nov. 7, 1944. w. RUDDOCK 2,362,407

EXCAVATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 24, 1942 2 Sheetsl-Sheet 2 41 18 g zafi INVENTOR. WZL/AM fiuoooclc,

ATTORNEY.

Patented New, .1944

uurrao STATES PATENT omen I axcava'l lizi m r i William ltuddock, South Pasadena,- Oalifa, assignor oi one-half to Marlon P..Mca i!rey, Los

,Angeles, Calif.

Application 0mm 24.1942, Serial No. 463,227

9 Claims.

This invention relates to scariiiers and analogous equipment for breaking up or loosening earth or other material being excavated.

In my application, Serial Number 418,557, fi1ed November 10, 1941.1 show and describe a shovel which is attached to a tractor and which is intended to lift and transport earth.- Shovels of thistype cannot of course be'usedin earth which is tightly packed, as the edge of the bucket will not penetrate if the ground is too hard. For this reason it has been customary to break up the earth in some fashion as a preliminary step to the handling of the earth or other material by the bucket.

I In the past the earth has been broken up for course expensive and limited in its use. A scarifier mounted on an auxiliary device to 'be dragged behind a tractor is cheaper to build; but has the disadvantage that it cannot be used to scarify corto provide a scanner which involves a minimum I of added equipment to the tractor shovel.

It is a furthenobject of the present invention 'to provide a-scarifler' which does not increase the complexity of operation of the machine to.-

which it is applied. I

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a scarifler which, when not. in use will not interfere with the normal operation of the machine to which it is attached.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a scarifier which is simple to connect to and disconnect from the machine upon which ners or in closely confined quarters, as it cannot I be maneuvered as readily as a tractor by itself could be. Scarifiers which have been made as part of a tractor shovel employing hydraulic means to force the'teeth of the scarifier into the earth and to hold them in the downward position are often excessively heavy in proportion to the function which they are to perform. Such excessive weight increases the wear and tear up n the tractor proper- Excessive weight also inrequired to operate the entire creases the power device.

With the above disadvantages of prior types of scarifiers in mind it is a primary object of the present invention to mount a scarifler directly on the machine which carries the earth handling apparatus and to utilize the movement of 'part of said apparatus to operate the scarifler.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a scarifier which is light in weight and which can be installed in-a position where it it is utilized. t v

This invention possesses many other advantages and has other objects which'may be made -more easily apparent from a consideration of one embodiment of the invention. For this purpose there is shown a form in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification. This form will now be described in detail, illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that this detained description is not to be taken ina limiting sense, since the scope ofthe invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Referringto the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying one form of the present invention;

- Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a detail of the structure shown in Fi ure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of a connecting link employed in the structure of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view of the structure of Figure 1, showing the parts in diiferent positions of operation:

Figure 5-is a rear elevation of the structure,

taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4; and,

, Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a 5 part of the structure of Figures 1 and 4.

The present invention involves the use of'mobile earth handling apparatus of the type described in my above mentioned application. So far .as the present invention is concerned, the chief characteristic which makes the above mentioned apparatus suitable for use with a scarifle'r is the existence of a boom or arm moving in a substantially vertical plane under the influence will improve the balance of the machine as a whole. It is a further object of the present invention of mechanisms which arecapable of moving the arm against considerable resistance. It is pro posed to utilize the movement of this arm to operate a scarifler, that is, to move the scanner from a position above the level of the ground into a digging position.

The apparatus upon which the present invenv tion is utilized comprises a tractor T which is mounted upon treads for movement under the control of the operator. The tractor frame ll carries a pair of spaced upright standards ll between which an arm or boom I2 is pivotally mounted as at l3 for swinging movement through a vertical plane. This boom i2 carries a bucket" M at one end thereof for handling earth. This arm is raised and lowered under the influence of a pair of cables l5 which are wound upon a winch i8 connected to the engine of the tractor through suitable gearing (not shown). In normal operation, the position of thearm I 2 and the position oi the bucket i4 is altered to enable the bucket ill to pick up a load, transport it to a desired position and unload. It is obvious that the rearmost end of the arm moves upwardly and downwardly in response to operation of the winch l3. This movement is to be availed of to furnish the necessary power to operate a scarifier.

The scarifier proper comprises an elongated member I! which extends across the rear end of the machine and serves as a mounting for the earth penetrating members. It may be or any suitable construction capable of withstanding the stresses imparted to it during the digging operation. However, in order to provide a convenient means for removably mounting the earth penetrating or ground breaking elements it is shown as being hollow and square in cross sectional configuration. The member i1 is mounted for movement toward and away from the earth by a pair of spaced arms i3 pivoted as at it to the tractor frame. The earth penetrating or ground breaking elements are in the form of teeth which may be of any desired shape, and may be mounted on the transverse member I! in any manner desired. They are shown as being more or lesshook shaped to facilitate penetration and tearing of the earth. As shown clearest in Figure 6, the shank of each tooth passes through aligned slots 20a in opposed walls or the transverse member l1, and notches 2| in one edge of the tooth are engageable with the wallsoi the slots. A wed e 22 driven through the slots between the baclr of the tooth and a side wall of the member I! serves to hold the tooth securely in place, while at the same time permitting its easy removal for sharpening or replacement. Adjustment of the teeth can be attained by the use of a plurality of notches along the edges of the teeth. The manner of mounting these teeth on the transverse member i1 is intended to be illustrative only, and any other suitable means may be employed. In fact there may be occasion to even weld the teeth on the member 11.

' It can be seen that the operation of the scariiier involves the rotation of the member I? about,

the pivots It. In order to cause this rotation a connector bar 25 is provided which connects the rearmost end of the boom l2 to the scarifier so that downward movement of the rearmost end of the arm 12 moves the scarifler into a position in which the teeth 20 will penetrate the earth. A

' single connector bar has been found to be suiaeeaeov A H during operation of the machine, pivot pins 33 and 3| are permanently held in the respective lugs 23 and 21..:-'-I'he ends of the connector bar are provided with elongated slots 32 and 33 of sufllcient width to slideably receive the pins and BI, respectively. Transverse slots 31 and are provided intermediate the ends of the respective slots 32 and 33 and are wide enough to permit entry of the pins 33 and 3 I.

1 In order to connect the searifier to the boom l2 it is'merely necessary to rest the lower end of the connector bar 25 against the pin 30 and slide it into a position in which the pin 30 enters the slot 32 through the slot 34. The upper end of the bar is placed against the pin SI and the boom i2 raised or lowered until the pin 3i can enter the slot 33 through the transverse slot 35. When this has been done it can be seen that taking in the cables i8 by operation of the winch IE, will move the rearmost end of the boom downwardly and force the scarifier teeth into the ground. To raise the teeth out of the ground it is merely necessary to release the brake on the winch it. The weight of the bucket on the for- I ward end of the arm 52 will elevate the rearmost end oithe arm it which will lift the scarifier.

When it is desired to use the machine in the normal manner for digging by means of the bucket id, the scarifier can be swung upwardly to the position shown in light broken lines in Figure 4, and secured in this position by inserting a bolt or pin M) through openings in the lugs ti and $2 on the transverse member ii and downwardly in exactly the same manner as the scarifier teeth, and thus the machine can be used for grading purposes in a manner analogous to a road scraper.

I claim:

1. In a material handling apparatus comprising a frame supported for movement over the ground. an arm mounted on said frame for movement in a substantially vertical plane. and means for moving said arm; earth engaging means, means supporting said earth engaging means i'or movement toward and away from the earth, and means optionally connecting said arm to said supporting means to move said earth engaging means into earth engaging position upon movement oi said arm.

2. In a material handling apparatus comprising a frame supported for movement over the ground, an arm mounted orr'said frame for movement in' a substantially vertical plane. and means for moving said arm; earth engaging means, means pivotally mounting said earth engaging means on said frame, and means optionally connecting said mounting means to said arm to move said. earth engaging means upon movement of said arm.

3. In a material handling apparatus comprising a frame supported for movement over the ground. an arm movably mounted on said frame, and a winch and cable operatively connected to said am to cause downward movement of one :saidam',

aseaeor ment when said link is detached.

.4. In a material handling apparatus comprlsing a frame supported for movement over the ground. an arm pivotally mounted on said frame for movement in a substantially vertical plane, a winch mounted on said frame, and a cable operatively connecting said arm with said winch to lower one end of said arm upon winding operation of said winch; a plurality of earth engaging elements, a member carrying said elements, means mounting said member on said framefor pivotal movement to bring said elements into earth engaging position, and a link plvotally connecting said arm to said member to transmit downward movement of one end of the arm to said member and move said'elements into earth engaging position upon winding operation of said winch;

5. In a material handling apparatus comprising a frame supported for movement over the one end of said for handling material;

engaging means pivotally mounted on said f I for movement toward and away from the earth, and means operatively connecting the end of the arm opposite the bucket to said earth engaging meanstomovesaidearthensasingmeansinto and out of engagement with the earth uponmovementof said arm about its pivotal mount- 7 A detachable link for optionally operatively connecting the dipper actuating mechanism of a material handling apparatus with an earth penetrating mechanism comprising, an elongated member having a longitudinal slot adjacent its end. said slot having closed ends, and means forming a transverse opening into said slot intermediate the ends of'the slot.

a 8. In a material handling apparatus compris ing a frame supported for movement in a forward and reverse direction over the ground, and a dipper supported by actuating mechanism on said frame and to be optionally loaded by movement of said frame in one direction: means for breaking theground in response to movement of said frame in said one direction 'and supported on said frame for movement toward and away' from the ground, and means for operatively connecting said dipper actuating ground, an arm pivotally'mounted intermediate its ends on said framefor rocking movement in a substantially vertical plane, and a bucket on one end of said arm for handling material; earth engaging means, means mounting said earth engaging means on the tractor frame for swinging movement toward and away from the-earth, and means operatively connecting the end of the arm opposite the bucket to said mounting means to move said mounting means upon movement of 8. In a material handling apparatus comprising a frame supported for movement over the ground, an arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said frame for rocking movement in mechanism to said ground breaking means to move, said means into ground eng sinl position upon operation of said V 9. In a material handling pparatus comprising a frame supported for movement in a forward and reverse direction over the ground, and a dipper supported in advance of said frame by actuating mechanism on said frame and arranged to be optionally loaded by forward movement of said frame: means for breaking the round also in response to forward movement of ,theframeandcarriedby'therearofsaidframo for movement toward andaway from the ground. and means for operatively connecting said dipper actuating mechanism to said ground breaking means to move'said means into ground engaging 45 'tion n ration of'said'mechanism. ,a substantially vertical plane, and a-bucket on M M W BUDDQCK. 

